CIA's secret UK bank trawl may be illegal (Can they do anything right?)

[ProSense]

CIA's secret UK bank trawl may be illegal

US effort to track jihadist money transfers faces inquiry over privacy

Alexi Mostrous and Ian Cobain
Monday August 21, 2006
The Guardian

A covert programme under which confidential information about British banking transactions is passed to the CIA with the full knowledge of the government may breach both British and European law, the Guardian has learned.

The information commissioner, who is responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act, is investigating the arrangement, which has seen details of computerised transactions from around the world passed to the CIA in an attempt to spy on the financiers of jihadist terrorism.

Snip...

Under US law, the legal basis for eliciting information from Swift was "absolutely clear," according to Stuart Levey, the under secretary for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

But concerns over the potential for abuse were heightened when the US Treasury later admitted that at least one search had been carried out "inappropriately". "The person who conducted that search is no longer allowed to work on this programme," a spokesman said.

In a statement, Swift said that it had acted in response to legally issued subpoenas. "Our fundamental principle has been to preserve the confidentiality of our users' data while complying with the lawful obligations in countries where we operate," it said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1854815,00.html

They can't even do law enforcement right!